The Bill Cosby Jurors Explain Exactly Why They Found Him Guilty

Even after the jury handed down a guilty verdict in the sexual assault case of comedian Bill Cosby, information about the proceedings continues to rivet the nation. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Cosby jurors explained the verdict they handed down in the case, and those jurors make it very clear that they went through a very slow and careful deliberation.

The Inquirer reported that the forewoman of the jury released a statement for herself and the rest of her colleagues explaining their process. The statement said that the verdict was the result of "thoughtful and meticulous consideration" of everything that they had heard and seen in the courtroom, and that they all held "100 percent conviction" in their decision to convict Cosby of sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. It read:

Simply put, we were asked to assess the credibility of Miss Constand’s account of what happened to her, and each one of us found her account credible and compelling.

"Our decision was not influenced in any way by factors other than what we heard and saw in the courtroom," the statement continued. "Not once were race or the #MeToo movement ever discussed, nor did either factor into our decision."

The Inquirer also reported that not all of the jurors names have been released to the public, including the name of the forewoman. One juror, the 22 year-old Harrison Snyder, did go on ABC's Good Morning America to discuss how he made the decision as well. Snyder told Good Morning America that while there were many factors that influenced his decision, what really swayed his mind were Cosby's own words.

"It was his deposition, really," Snyder told ABC. "Mr. Cosby admitted to giving these Quaaludes to women, young women, in order to have sex with them."

In a 2005 sworn deposition, Cosby did say outright that he had obtained the Quaaludes with the express purpose of giving them to women who he wanted to have intercourse with. Quaaludes are highly addictive sedatives that induce sleep in the user.

Multiple women who had accused Cosby of assaulting them were allowed to testify in the trial — a fact that set this trial apart from the first Cosby trial that ended in a mistrial — but Snyder said that their testimony mattered less to him than what Cosby had said himself.

"In the deposition, he stated that he gave these drugs to other women," Snyder told ABC. "I don't think it really necessarily mattered that these other five women were here, because he said it himself. That he used these drugs on other women."

Snyder also said that some people have questioned Cosby's conviction, saying that they still believe the comedian to be innocent. "If you were there, you would say the same thing. You would say that he's guilty," Snyder tells those people, he said on Good Morning America. In her statement, the forewoman also recognizes that the case was especially important for many people across the country because of who exactly they were deliberating on.

“Each of us spoke of the weight of our responsibility,” she wrote, and then continued:

We understood the consequences to human lives, to an American icon, and to all who are victims and we knew we needed to be comfortable with our decisions in order to sleep at night with clear consciences. Each of us is walking away with that sense of peace, knowing we performed our duty in the manner it deserved.

According to the Inquirer, Cosby now faces up to three decades in prison, but that will all be determined at his sentencing hearing. While the judge has not yet set a date for that, everyone will definitely be waiting expectantly to see what comes next.